Why our mindsets are so different

[bush_cheney2004]

For whatever reason, I think the US is a more inward looking country.

Compared to what ? How many Canadians walked on the Moon ?

[Wilber]

Compared to what ? How many Canadians walked on the Moon ?

In general, unless it is something that directly effects the US, I think Americans know less about what is going on outside their own country than others and I don't just mean about Canada.

[bush_cheney2004]

In general, unless it is something that directly effects the US, I think Americans know less about what is going on outside their own country than others and I don't just mean about Canada.

The U.S. has a very large population with a foreign born component bigger than the entire population of Canada. Internet packet switching technology and popular search engine applications, also from America, help the entire world to know a lot more about everything.

[Wilber]

The U.S. has a very large population with a foreign born component bigger than the entire population of Canada. Internet packet switching technology and popular search engine applications, also from America, help the entire world to know a lot more about everything.

I'm not trying to diminish American achievements but since you bring it up, one would think they should be better informed about what goes on outside their universe.

[bush_cheney2004]

I'm not trying to diminish American achievements but since you bring it up, one would think they should be better informed about what goes on outside their universe.

Why? The Americans who need to know such things are very well informed, while the others are not. Why do Canadians need/want to know so much about the United States ?

Edited December 28, 2012 by bush_cheney2004

[Wilber]

Why? The Americans who need to know such things are very well informed, while the others are not. Why do Canadians need/want to know so much about the United States ?

The need to know should be obvious but it is not just about the United States.

[Guest American Woman]

I'm not trying to diminish American achievements but since you bring it up, one would think they should be better informed about what goes on outside their universe.

How do you know how much Americans know about what goes on in the rest of the world? or how much Canadians all know, for that matter?

[bush_cheney2004]

The need to know should be obvious but it is not just about the United States.

But beyond the United States, I'm betting that most Canadians don't know much more than Americans do....you know...in general.

[Wilber]

How do you know how much Americans know about what goes on in the rest of the world? or how much Canadians all know, for that matter?

I spend quite a bit of time on both sides of the border. I'm speaking in generalities of course. There are Americans who are very well informed and Canadians who are clueless.

[Wilber]

But beyond the United States, I'm betting that most Canadians don't know much more than Americans do....you know...in general.

I think you would be wrong but neither of us knows for sure.

[bush_cheney2004]

I think you would be wrong but neither of us knows for sure.

Correct...there is no way to know such things, so I don't worry about it like you do. Right now I am reading CBC News about a snow storm in Canada (big news...it snows in Canada during the winter), but the storm came from the "U.S. South", and it is sprinkled with several references to the storm activity in the USA as if to make it more credible. There's your trouble.....

[bush_cheney2004]

I spend quite a bit of time on both sides of the border.

The vast majority of Americans do not, having absolutely no reason to do so. 90% of Americans are not huddled close to the Canadian border for more warmth and better shopping.

[August1991]

Fun fact: Canada has 13 provinces or territories while the US has 50 states. Canada meanwhile has more of them where the majority of the population lives in the same urban area (ON, QC, BC, MB, NS, NL, PE, YK, NW) than the US does (NY, CO, IL, MI, MN, OK, AK, GA)

I originally read this in an older book that argued that this was the case. That in Canada, all of the 'stuff' (the book was not specific) went "in" to our urban areas, while in the US it went "out" of them. That our efforts are put into developing our centres while in the US it is the opposite.

I'm curious what people think of this theory?

At first glance, the theory seems interesting but then it becomes obvious that 50 states divide the territory differently. Think of Connecticut, New Jersey and NYC. Or Indiana and Wisconsin and Chicago. If southwestern Ontario (for example) were a separate province, then you would draw a similar conclusion in Canada as you've drawn in the US.

The better question might be to ask why Canadian provinces are so large (relatively) and American states so small. The American mania to ensure power is not concentrated probably explains this.

------

IMHO, the main difference between Canada and the US is that, grosso modo, Canada is a Roman Catholic country and the US is Protestant. In the US, Catholics are about 20% of the population (and this is rising because of the influx of Latinas). OTOH, in Canada, Catholics are the single largest religious group and form around 45% of the population. (Religion is now a difficult identifier since many people do not practice.)

The US has had only one President who was a Roman Catholic. Since 1968, all of Canada's federal PMs - anglophone or francophone - have been Catholic until Harper. (I'll ignore Kim Campbell.) BTW, Joe Biden is a Roman Catholic.

Edited December 28, 2012 by August1991

[August1991]

Canada is not based on the revolutionary independent approach and is more secular. The U.S. has the "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" which speaks more to individualism and attainment of individual success, whereas Canada is more about the hive collective as in Canadian "Peace, Order and Good Government and a socialized health care system. No one wants a U.S. style health care system.

Canada is more secular? WTF?

Since the Conquest, and before, religion has been critical to Canadian history. Scribblet, I suggest that you read the BNA Act.

As to your "hive collective" idea, Canada is not a bee colony. At most, individual Canadians identify with their region. (BTW, very few species operate like bees or ants. When anyone suggests that humans act like bees, I am terrified. The "hive collective" theory is a weak, last attempt to defend socialism.)

I've spent quite a bit of time in Toronto, and from my experience, Americans are more likely to get flack for being American in Canada than Canadians are likely to get flack for being Canadian in the U.S....

AW, you raise a broader question. Canadians have the benefit that most people around the world know nothing about us. We're like Icelanders. Individual Americans abroad, OTOH, bear the burden of everything their country has ever done: from jazz, Mickey Mouse to Hiroshima.

Having lived in both Vancouver and Seattle extensively, I can say I've detected no discernible difference in "mindset" whatsoever. Now Montreal on the other hand... that was like living on an alien planet.

Have you tried New Jersey? Edited December 28, 2012 by August1991

[Smallc]

Canad is more secular?

Ummm, yes.

[Wilber]

Correct...there is no way to know such things, so I don't worry about it like you do. Right now I am reading CBC News about a snow storm in Canada (big news...it snows in Canada during the winter), but the storm came from the "U.S. South", and it is sprinkled with several references to the storm activity in the USA as if to make it more credible. There's your trouble.....

Sure and a lot of your cold weather "comes from Canada" according to your media. I don't know that it is anything conscious that Canadians do but when I watch Canadian network and particularly local stations, there is usually more world news than I see on US stations. Perhaps that is just because there is less Canadian news to broadcast.

[Wilber]

The vast majority of Americans do not, having absolutely no reason to do so. 90% of Americans are not huddled close to the Canadian border for more warmth and better shopping.

Yes, more inward looking. Just like I said in the first place.

[August1991]

Not secular at all in the beginning....religion played a much larger role in Canada's past. It is still part of the Constitution Act.

Agree.

There is a similar little brother-complex as is between Ireland and Britain or New Zealand and Australia. Or if we still keep looking for examples, Germany and almost any other European country.

NZ and AUS?

No, this is typical (Irish) Catholic thinking. God above decides.

Part of it is American's own sense of superiority.

Or your sense of inferiority.

Canuck, the most successful countries in the world (GDP/capita) are small countries - except the US which also numbers in the top 10. Why does such a large country as the US (geography/population) rate alongside Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg? I think of the US as a civilized collection of small countries.

[bush_cheney2004]

Sure and a lot of your cold weather "comes from Canada" according to your media. I don't know that it is anything conscious that Canadians do but when I watch Canadian network and particularly local stations, there is usually more world news than I see on US stations. Perhaps that is just because there is less Canadian news to broadcast.

US news is not international to Americans, who don't typically watch Canadian stations. What would be the point of watching largely American programming or wire service feeds on a Canadian station ?

[August1991]

Ummm, yes.

Sorry, Smallc, but religion has been fundamental to Canada's history.

Have you ever heard of the Quebec Act, an act of the British parliament?

-----

As I argue above, Canada is a Catholic country whereas the US is a Protestant country. Many Canadian complaints of the US are typical Catholic criticisms of protestants: they are apostates, those Americans/Protestants do things that are improper.

Canada is far less religious than the US, no matter what slogans may be plastered in our respective documents. You'd have to be blind and or deaf not to realize that.

On second thought, if you believe, Smallc, that Canadians identify less with a collective, then I think you're wrong too.

From Newfoundlanders to Quebecers, Albertans to Torontonians, people in Canada believe in the "hive".

Edited December 28, 2012 by August1991

[Smallc]

Canada is far less religious than the US, no matter what slogans may be plastered in our respective documents. You'd have to be blind and or deaf not to realize that.

[bush_cheney2004]

This was not always the case, as Canadians reporting church membership and organized worship use to be higher than in the U.S. according to author Michael Adams in Fire and Ice. I think many Canadians forget or never knew just how "religious" a country it was, and still is.

This no doubt is part of the "not American" distancing and identity definition for some Canadians, but they can't change history.

Edited December 28, 2012 by bush_cheney2004

[TheNewTeddy]

Rural folk, and people in smaller cities are more religious.

[Wilber]

US news is not international to Americans, who don't typically watch Canadian stations. What would be the point of watching largely American programming or wire service feeds on a Canadian station ?

US news isn't international news here either. It's US news.

[Wilber]

This was not always the case, as Canadians reporting church membership and organized worship use to be higher than in the U.S. according to author Michael Adams in Fire and Ice. I think many Canadians forget or never knew just how "religious" a country it was, and still is.

This no doubt is part of the "not American" distancing and identity definition for some Canadians, but they can't change history.

It is still quite different. From what I can find. Americans attending weekly religious gatherings 43%, Canadians 20%. Both are still higher than Western Europe, Australia or Japan.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Wilber